Expanding accessibility: Outpatient intensive treatment for substance use disorder during covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted mental health, particularly for people with preexisting conditions such as Substance Use Disorders (SUD) (Brooks et al., 2020; Volkow, 2020; Panamerican Health Organization, 2016). Since 2010, our team has provided outpatient intensive treatment for people with SUDs. Our therapeutic program includes group and individual psychotherapy, workshops (meditation, physical activity, nutritional advice, smoking cessation, yoga), weekly meetings with the patient’s social support network, and psychiatric and clinical evaluations. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we migrated all services to a remote-enabled mode through a videoconference platform, including group and individual meetings. The frequency of groups was increased after the lockdown from 4 times a week to daily.